OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions

Selected studies on finance, insurance and private pensions policy prepared for dissemination in order to stimulate wider discussion and further analysis and obtain feedback from interested audiences. The studies provide timely analysis and background on industry developments, structural issues, and public policy in the financial sector. Topics include risk management, governance, investments, benefit protection, and financial education. Previous papers addressing these policy issues are available via http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/19936397.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make up the majority of enterprises in the world, providing employment and contributing significantly to national incomes. Many MSMEs face a number of challenges, including regulatory hurdles and tax...

The G20/OECD Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection has highlighted that "regulators and supervisors can use the insights gained through behavioural economics research to inform their approach to potential remedies to help consumers". This...

Despite Greece’s long history as a trading nation, the country is failing to live up to its export potential. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could significantly contribute to strengthening Greece’s export performance, thereby helping to...

A number of factors and trends have driven the development of financial education policies in Asia and the Pacific in recent years. In some countries and economies, the development of financial education policies has been mostly spurred by high...

Money remitted by international migrants is a major source of income for many countries around the world, exceeding all international development funds combined. Yet individual migrants and their families are often amongst the most vulnerable people...

The financial crisis has led to a widespread loss of trust in financial intermediaries of all kinds, perhaps helping to open the way towards the general acceptance of alternative technologies. This paper briefly summarises the crypto-currency...

The economic downturn is likely to have a lasting impact on the fund management industry and on long term asset allocation strategies of institutional investors. On one hand, in promoting more cautious investment strategies and a greater focus on...

This report is structured in three chapters. The first chapter examines the channels through which institutional investors can access green infrastructure, assesses the extent to which this is currently happening, and identifies the barriers to...

Financial inclusion is an international policy priority and demand-side initiatives including financial education have an important role to play in helping individuals to access and use appropriate, formal financial products. In 2010, under the...

Macroeconomic stability and growth in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region have allowed governments to focus on public policies that build on the complementarities between financial education, inclusion and the development of social...

Australian and Canadian pension funds have been pioneers in infrastructure investing since the early 1990s. They also have the highest asset allocation to infrastructure around the globe today. This paper compares and contrasts the experience of...

This paper investigates policyholder protection schemes in OECD member countries and selected non-OECD countries. It is selective in its scope: it examines the rationale for a policyholder protection scheme; the relationship between certain design...

This report reviews recent as well as planned changes to accounting and solvency regulations affecting insurers and pension funds and how they may impact long-term investing by these institutions. The review of existing evidence focuses mainly on the...

Favourable conditions such as the growth of pension fund assets, privatisation trends and changing regulations have increased the interest of institutional investors in infrastructure investment. However, data on pension fund investment in...

The purpose of this paper is to discuss a few issues related to how best to communicate uncertainty about projections of future pension benefits to members of DC plans, and especially to present a pension risk simulator developed by the Chilean...

This paper reviews the recent development of the funded pension system in the Russian Federation and considers it role in the context of the overall retirement income system. By describing current OECD practices and policy recommendations and...

This report reviews the existing evidence on pension fund investment in infrastructure in “new” markets, covering a number of non-OECD countries, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa, as well as some OECD countries like Chile and...

While the African situation displays disparities both within and between countries in terms of economic and human development, on average, many African countries have relatively low school enrolment ratios, highly informal labour markets, high...

This definitional, stocktaking paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the concepts and definitions related to “green” investments that are currently used in the market place. The purpose of this research is not to take a position on a...

Decarbonising the world?s energy system, moving towards a resource efficient economy and providing energy access for all will require doubling existing investment levels to around USD 2 trillion a year or 2% of GDP. Governments understand that large...

Savings and investments by individuals are important both for personal financial well-being and for economic growth. Many governments try to encourage their citizens to save more, or to save more appropriately, by preferring formal institutions to...

Considering the growing role of private and funded pension provision and the sensitivity of private pension provision to the economic climate, there is an increasing need of comparable and reliable information on private pension plans in order to...

To adapt pension systems to demographic trends, many countries are reducing pay-as-you-go public pension levels and lifting retirement ages. In this context, funded pensions could play a major role to avoid adequacy gaps. Yet, as this paper shows,...

This paper examines and evaluates the content and design of the annual pension statement sent to members of funded defined contribution (DC) pension schemes in a selection of OECD and non-OECD countries. The aims of the research are to identify the...

The present report focuses on the pre-campaign planning, the design, the delivery, and the monitoring and evaluation of National Pension Communication Campaigns in a range of OECD and non-OECD countries. The research identifies barriers to effective...

This paper provides a review of the Swedish National Pension Funds based on international good practice and OECD guidelines. The paper focuses mainly on the general size and structure of the funds, the investment framework and the governance of the...

In both developing and developed economies, the awareness of the importance of financial education led to the development of an increasing number of tailored national strategies for financial education. These frameworks promote a smoother and more...

This paper presents the findings from an OECD International Network on Financial Education pilot study undertaken in 14 countries. The analysis focuses on variations in financial knowledge, behaviour and attitude across countries and within countries...

The potential implications of gender differences in financial literacy are far-reaching. This paper describes the findings of a review of the literature on gender differences in financial literacy with the aim to better understand their causes and...

Pension funds are increasingly looking at infrastructure investment with some investors actively pursuing opportunities in the sector. Different countries are at different stages in the evolution of pension fund investment in infrastructure. A survey...

The property losses from the Feb 27th 2010 Maule earthquake are assessed as $18.1Bn paid for 38% by insurers, 47% by the Government of Chile and 15% by individuals and businesses. Including $4Bn damage to infrastructure and the costs of lost economic...

This paper examines the role of guarantees in DC pension plans, in particular minimum investment return guarantees during the accumulation phase. The main goal is to assess the cost and benefits of different return guarantees. The report uses a...

It is estimated that transitioning to a low-carbon, and climate resilient economy, and more broadly „greening growth? over the next 20 years to 2030 will require significant investment and consequently private sources of capital on a much larger...

With rapidly increasing population and growing catastrophe exposure in their countries, many more government leaders (including Presidents, Prime Ministers and Rulers) are now faced with a strategic question: how best develop a national strategy to...

Most countries have separate pension plan for public sector employees. The future fiscal burden of these plans can be substantial as the government usually is the largest employer, pension promises in the public sector tend to be relatively generous,...

This paper provides a detailed chronological account of the governance-cum-management reform of National Pension Fund in Korea and analyzes its success factors, drawing lessons for other countries. A review of the current governance structures with...

This paper suggests avenues for strengthening the governance and management of the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), the largest single pool of pension assets in the world. The GPIF earned its name in 2006 as part of a major...

At the end of April 2010, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published an exposure draft with proposed changes to International Accounting Standard No. 19 (IAS 19). IAS 19 is the current standard for the financial reporting of...

This working paper’s quantifications show that most sovereign debt is held on the banking books of banks, whereas the EU stress test considered only their small trading book exposures. It discusses why sovereign debt held in the banking book cannot...

Three essential goals of pension plan funding are the long-term viability, stability and security of member benefits. Reform of funding regulations for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes to make them more counter-cyclical in nature can help achieve...

This paper assesses the relative performance of different investment strategies for different structures of the payout phase. In particular, it looks at whether the specific glide-path of life-cycle investment strategies and the introduction of...

There is growing concern, across a wide range of countries, about the levels of financial capability of consumers. A large number of initiatives are therefore being developed to address this issue; and countries are increasingly rolling out national...